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AUTHOR ARCHIVES
John Pulley
John Pulley has written the Health IT Update blog since May 2011. Prior to becoming a regular contributor to Nextgov, he covered technology for Federal Computer Week and Government Health IT magazines. He has written about government for Federal Times and Air Force Times, as well. Pulley has worked in journalism for more than 20 years. He began his career covering local government for regional newspapers. In addition, he served as a writer and senior editor at The Chronicle of Higher Education for seven years. In 2006, he founded The Pulley Group, an editorial services agency.
Use of Mobile Health Apps Lags
July 20, 2012
FROM NEXTGOV
Mobile health applications may be the next wonder of the world, but relatively few Americans are using them. The Washington Post, citing data from the Pew Internet and American Life Project, breaks it down this way: While 88 percent of Americans have a cell phone, only 10 percent have downloaded ...
Most Docs Approve of Electronic Records, Survey Finds
July 18, 2012
FROM NEXTGOV
Only 15 percent of health care providers who have adopted electronic health records are unhappy with workflow challenges and other commonly heard complaints about EHRs, the national coordinator for health IT says. In a blog post filed Tuesday, Dr. Farzad Mostashari says analysis of the Centers for Disease Control’s 2011 ...
Health Data Exchange Market Is Changing
July 16, 2012
FROM NEXTGOV
The health-information exchange market is evolving away from simple data exchange and toward a model that uses data to facilitate accountable and collaborative care, according to a market study released Monday by IDC Health Insights. The study, “IDC MarketScape: U.S. Health Information Exchange Platform Solutions 2012 Vendor Assessment,” evaluates 16 ...
Privacy Groups Promote More Secure Mobile Apps
July 13, 2012
FROM NEXTGOV
The Future of Privacy Forum and the Center for Democracy and Technology this week released a set of best practices that mobile application developers can use to protect users’ privacy. The best practices document, released July 11, includes a list of seven basic steps for building privacy into mobile apps ...
Smartphones Replace Medical Transcriptionists
July 11, 2012
FROM NEXTGOV
Smartphones equipped with mobile medical dictation apps are replacing handheld tape recorders and tablet computers -- at least for doctors at one medical clinic in Nebraska. Smartphone-based voice-recognition technology allowed the 30 physicians at the Kearney Clinic, in central Nebraska, to cut the number of transcriptionists from 25 to just ...
Health IT Group Urges Relaxed Regulations for Data Exchange
July 9, 2012
FROM NEXTGOV
With the technology for health information exchanges still developing, it’s too early to impose more regulations, the health IT advocacy group eHealth Initiative says in a letter to the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT. “ONC’s proposed regulations could potentially hamper, not enhance, the growth and development of ...
IT Firms Vie for Federal Awards Worth $20 Billion
July 6, 2012
FROM NEXTGOV
A total of 54 companies are eligible to compete for up to $20 billion in information technology and health IT products and services, primarily for the National Institutes of Health and its parent agency, the Health and Human Services Department. NIH is the executive agent. The Chief Information Officers - ...
Health Devices in Homes Stimulate Global Telemedicine Market
July 3, 2012
FROM NEXTGOV
Growing acceptance of home patient monitoring technology will help to enlarge the global telemedicine market to $2.5 billion by 2018, more than triple the 2011 market of $736 million, according to the British market research firm Companies & Markets. “Home patient monitoring means two things: the imminent rise of the ...
Converting Medical Records: Pay Now or Pay Later
July 2, 2012
FROM NEXTGOV
The Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society has released an online tool to help health-care providers assess the financial risk of delaying conversion of records to ICD-10, an international medical-coding system. The ICD-10 PlayBook and Financial Risk Calculator includes a financial survey of relevant issues, such as revenue and cash ...
Electronic Records Mitigate Against Malpractice
June 29, 2012
FROM NEXTGOV
Electronic health records appear to significantly reduce the risk of malpractice claims, according to a study published this month in JAMA’S Archives of Internal Medicine. In a study of 189 Massachusetts physicians in 2005 and 2007, the researchers found the rate of claims filed against physicians using EHRs was just ...
